“Get comfortable being uncomfortable.” This phrase often echoed through my head while I crouched in the hot sun picking away at the hard packed dirt. It’s little slogans like this, which often assume the voice of my high school wrestling coach, that help shape my attitude towards the situations in which I placed. This trip has been, in a truly un-hyperbolic sense, life changing. Over the course of this month I have been able to push my body to its limit, meet lifelong friends, and decide a tentative trajectory for the next few years of my education.
As a worker, I have learned that there is a true beauty to placing a facet of one’s identity into their work. I felt a legitimate attachment to what I was doing. I wasn’t working for money or because “my boss told me to,” but because I genuinely wanted to see what lay beneath those next few centimeters of soil. I wanted to know what the next few stones in the wall looked like. This work was certainly not always easy, there is a constant struggle between the intrinsic mental drive to continue and the physical need to stop. Discomfort is constant. You are dirty, hot, and exhausted. But if you can adapt to the completely unusual circumstances and “become comfortable being uncomfortable,” then working in archeology is, perhaps, one of the most rewarding endeavors I have ever undertaken.
As a learner, this trip has taught me the value of being wrong. Tied into this idea is the value of humility in an educational setting. In more conventional academic settings, there is a push to always have a correct answer, speculation is frowned on because it often adds little to the conversation. Archeology is distinct, in that, considering buildings or other cultural materials through different perspectives, or lenses, can aid in the development of another’s hypothesis as to what is going on. The fact of the matter is that, during the excavation, the entirety of the facts/evidence are not yet present and thus it’s anyone’s guess, informed or not, as to what the “truth” may be. A theory may be reasonable one day but, in the face of new evidence, need to be revised the next day. This constant reworking of ideas constitutes a unique facet of archeology that prior to this experience I would never have known about.
As a person, I have learned the value of flexibility and positivity. Very often on the trip we would find ourselves in unusual circumstances, made all the more confusing from cultural and linguistic differences. The only thing to do when placed in these type of circumstances is to go with the flow. Now sometimes the flow may be a gentle babbling brook and other times it can be a whitewater rapid, but remaining positive and using each opportunity as a learning experience has been one of my most valuable lessons this trip. Having a positive attitude in the face of uncertainty is invaluable not only for one’s mental sanity, but also for those around you. I can’t count the number of times I would groggily see a smile from across the breakfast table and immediately snap out of my early morning daze. It’s little things like a giggle at 6am or a joke cracked at peak of the midday sun that combine to create an atmosphere that is not only friendly and fun but also conducive to better work. Being comfortable with the people around you makes throwing out guess or even disagreeing with someone all the more constructive. I will be eternally grateful for the people on this trip for being able to create such a wonderful atmosphere of positivity and kindness. I can sincerely say that this trip has changed how I view my actions and place in the world and I hope that I can continue to learn more with every new opportunity.